Microfluidic methods improve on many traditional in vitro assays for the studying of soluble factor interactions in multicultural systems, the interaction between cells and their substrate, and properties of cell migration. Furthermore, microfluidic methods improve various aspects of fluid handling including the control of fluid paths, washing efficiency, and reagent use. While the highest degree of precision is achievable with syringe-based microfluidics, the equipment and skill required represent a barrier to adoption in biology laboratories. An increasing body of work has identified this issue and developed more accessible open microfluidic platforms.
Previous inventions have disclosed open microfluidic devices which use capillary flow as opposed to pressurized force through use of. These devices have been cannot deal with particular problem of the device being able to be reconfigurable. As a result, there exists a need for new modular microfluidic devices that are capable of being reconfigured for rapid assay prototyping and development.